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Go Back, Mr. Putin. You Are Not Welcome in India!

23 Dec 2012 – The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) strongly objects to the visit of Mr. Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, and asks him to go back because the Russian government has been interfering in India’s internal affairs and causing so much economic loss to our people.

The Russian Ambassador to India has been interfering in the internal affairs of India by making unwanted statements and unacceptable comments on our energy policy, development policy, our national futures and our citizens’ right to protest against anti-national policies and projects. There are also credible reports that the KGB, the Russian intelligence agency, is interfering in the functioning of the Indian intelligence agencies.

The Russian government has been causing so much economic loss to India because of several inefficient deals and delayed delivery of goods. The Russian government made a $1-billion deal in 2008 to upgrade the Indian Air Force’s fleet of 63 MiG-29s and they should have begun delivering the planes in 2010. But Russia has just delivered 3 fighter aircrafts after a delay of three years. The IAF has lost at least 116 MiG aircraft to crashes (not including those lost in combat), with 81 of those occurring since 1990; and MiG-21 has come to be referred to as “flying coffin” in the IAF.

Another 2004 deal with Russia to buy an aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, has suffered the same fate of repeated delays and enormous loss to India. Originally meant to be delivered in August 2008, the ship has not been delivered yet even in 2012. The original $947 million deal has more than doubled now to $2.9 billion all because of Russia’s lackadaisical defense industry and India’s corrupt military procurement practices.

The Koodankulam nuclear power project (KKNPP) has suffered the same fate. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) have claimed time and again that the delay in Koodankulam is mainly due to the non-sequential delivery of equipment and parts. The KKNPP which was supposed to be commissioned in 2005 has not been started even at the end of 2012. Despite the Russian government’s and their Indian apologists’ exaggerated claims about the VVER-1000 reactors, there seem to be serious problems at the KKNPP. That is why the Russian government is trying so hard to wriggle out of any liability commitment for its “best and perfect” reactors.

The Russian technology, Indian (mis)management and their joint inefficiency and corruption have cost so much loss to the people of India. And hence we do not want Mr. Vladimir Putin, who is solely responsible for all the loss and interference here in India. Mr. Putin, go back and take your Koodankulam nuclear power plant along with you!

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 24 Dec 2012.

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